Category: holidays

La settimana santa

In Italy, Holy Week, la settimana santa, means millioni parades and celebrations all leading up to Easter Sunday.

But, even better, is Easter Monday. That’s Little Easter, or Pasquetta. It’s very Italian, an amen-astonishing day set aside to just revel in the spring weather. Cars are packed to the gunwales with food and Italians set out to go somewhere, anywhere.

They travel in packs, herds, and swarms, an extravaganza of carefree clans hit the road toting Easter leftovers.

East Monday is also known as Lunedì dell’Angelo, Monday of the Angel. It’s the day to remember Mary and Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre being comforted by an angel.

Since Monday is a secular holiday, no one goes to church. It’s the happiest of Italian Easter traditions. Even the Pope takes a day off!

There is a saying in Italian:

Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi

It means Christmas with your family, Easter with whoever you would like. Oh, and treating yourself to the last piece of Easter pie, you know….for fuel.

Buona Pasqua a Tutti!

Toni 3/31/18

ps In the unlikely event there are leftover (chocolate) eggs, do this.

We just celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in style. It’s a day to really whoop it up for the patron saint of Ireland~ wear green, drink Guinness, and belt out killer pub songs between bites of corned beef and steamed cabbage. All topped off with strong coffee, Irish whiskey, and a generous layer of cream.

So, lots of March celebrations. Another day, another saint.

But today, March 19, belongs to the venerated St. Joseph.

As in Jesus, Mary and….

Sicilians honor St. Joseph because he saved them from starving during a serious drought in the Middle Ages. Parades are, well, inevitable. “Viva la tavola di San Giuseppe!” Let the feast begin!

St. Joseph’s tables, Tavole di San Giuseppe, are covered in food. The bounty of the altar is shared not only with friends and family, but with the needy. Everyone gives thanks for blessings received during the year.

The altar sports a variety of meatless foods like minestrone and pasta with breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs are a symbol of the sawdust on St. Joseph’s floor and, yes, are even a form of protection.

In case you are unaware, Sicilians wrote the book on protection. They scatter salt on the floor by the front door to ward off the evil eye, or, if necessary, employ more combustive measures. I’ve learned to keep crumbs in the freezer so that when a storm threatens, I scatter them in the yard. I’m not afraid of you Toby, and Uma, Violet, Wilber, Xanto, Yvonne, or Zoe. Bring it on.

And always, always, there are fava beans on the altar. They are undeniably lucky because during that Sicilian drought, the fava thrived while all other crops failed.

The table is blessed by a priest and has three tiers, a nod to the Holy Trinity. The top tier is the statue of St. Joseph surrounded by flowers and greenery.

The other tiers hold food, flowers, and candles.

Zeppole were invented in 1837 by a Neapolitan cook named Ippolito Cavalcanti. Apparently he was quite the baker as well as Dante’s BFF.

Few saints used to hang out with gourmands and men-about-town. They were hermits or monks like St Cuthbert, on deck for tomorrow’s feast day. He was all about miracles and healing. And ducks. St Cuthbert is associated with Eider ducks, known in Northumberland as Cuddy’s ducks. A colony nests on the Farne Islands where the saint had his hermitage.

St. Cuthbert discovered local people liked to eat the eider ducks and their eggs. So he introduced the world’s first bird protection laws to protect them and other sea birds nesting on the islands.
These are believed to be the earliest bird conservation laws in the world.

There’s a two-day celebration for this region’s beloved Cuthbert. A man of vision. Like the courageous and fervent Patrick.

Clearly the heavens are populated with thousands of saints. It’s a staggering task to celebrate them all. The crowd faves are eternally commemorated but what about St. Cunegund? St. Nicanor? St. Carpophorus?

Write a note to a great teacher on St. Ita’s Day. Make a donation to a feline rescue organization on St. Gertrude’s Day. Give your dog a special treat on St. Roch’s Day. Take your mother out to dinner on St. Martha’s Day. No matter what saint you celebrate, break out the fireworks!